Monday, February 6, 2017

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Today is the birth anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun freedom activist who fought for independence .A pacifist, who subscribed to and believed in nonviolent ways of struggle, he founded and spear headed the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement in 1929.He was also associated with the Indian National Congress.Being a follower of nonviolence, he is also known as the Frontier Gandhi and is revered as such.He was against the partition of India and was shocked when the partition proposal was accepted by the Congress without consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leadership.Post independence he continued his struggle for various issues and even at the time of his death, he was under house arrest at Peshawar.He was named Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience in 1962, was awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1967.He was also awarded Bharat Ratna in 1987.He died in 1988, aged 98.Our humble tributes !